November Ballots Set as 39% of Voters Make It To Polls For Primary Election

A number of contested local races combined with a pair of high profile constitutional amendments brought out 39 percent of the registered voters in Scotland County for the August 3 primary election.

The ballots were set for November when voters will elect two commissioners, a public administrator, a sheriff, a coroner and an assessor.

Democrats had to choose between five candidates for Eastern District Commissioner. Win Hill got the nod in a very close race edging Stanley Hatfield by just 14 votes, 194 to 180. Kenneth Eggleston received 102 votes followed by Junior Snodgrass with 37 and Robert Moseley with 28.

Hill will face Steve Kirkpatrick in November. Kirkpatrick received the Republican nomination, defeating Chris Van Hoozen on the party’s ticket by a final tally of 124 to 67.

The Western District race will pit Paul Campbell against Greta Slocum. Campbell will represent the Democrat party after beating challengers Lew Prather and Tom Priebe. Campbell earned 238 votes compared to 149 for Priebe and 130 for Prather. Slocum was unopposed on the Republican ballot and received 118 votes.

The other contested county race was for Public Administrator. Shelley Small earned the Democrat nomination besting Linda (Kapfer) Brown and Mary Morgan. Small got 470 votes while Brown received 278 and Morgan got 256.

Small will face Ellen Aylward in November. Aylward won a close race with Ron Alexander, edging out the Memphis Mayor by a final tally of 190 to 143.

Mike Steeples and incumbent Wayne Winn were unopposed on their party’s ballots for sheriff. Steeples earned 593 votes on the Democrat side while Winn garnered 317 votes on the Republican ticket.

Democrat Ginny Monroe received 898 votes on the Democrat ballot. She is unopposed in November as she seeks re-election as county coroner.

First Circuit Judge Gary Dial, a democrat, received 895 in his unopposed run to return to the bench to serve Scotland, Clark and Schuyler counties.

Constitutional Amendment #2, which if passed would protect the institution of marriage as a union between a man and a woman, had significant support in Scotland County. Local votes cast 1121 votes for the issue with just 285 no votes.

Locals were not as kind to Constitutional Amendment #1 that would allow riverboat gambling on the White River in Rockaway Beach. The issue earned just 594 yes votes to 799 no votes.

Both candidates for First District State Representative had strong showings on their party’s ballot. Incumbent Brian Munzlinger received 307 votes on the Republican ballot. Former representative Sam Berkowitz got 841 tallies on the Democrat side.

There were few surprises on the state level. As expected the race for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination was close locally as it was statewide. Incumbent Bob Holden was edged by challenger Claire McCaskill by just 10 votes 396 to 406. Jim LePage received 36 votes with 23 going to Jeffrey Emerick.

Bekki Cook blew away Ken Jacob locally with a 2 to 1 margin of 614 votes to 287 for Jacob.

Arnold Mayor Mark Powell had a strong showing in Scotland County, getting 382 votes to best front runner Jason Klumb (229) and Mark C. Abel (150) in the State Treasurer race.

Nancy Farmer got the nod for U.S. Senate to challenge Kit Bond. She got 555 votes to 181 for Charles Berry and 79 for Ronald Bonar.

Robin Carnahan was unopposed for the Democratic nomination for Secretary of State and received 787 votes. Linda Jacobsen, also was unopposed as she heads towards a November challenge to Kenny Hulshof. She got 678 votes locally. Jay Nixon, incumbent Attorney General, earned 728 votes as he also was unopposed.

At the state level on the Republican side it was Kit Bond handily beating challenger Mike Steger 313 to 25 for U.S. Senate.

Matt Blunt took 265 of the Republican votes for governor compared to 17 for Karen Skelton-Memhardt, 15 for Martin Lindstedt, 7 for Jeff Killian and 6 for Roy Lang.